(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for recording media and particuarly mailers for use in the transmittal of discettes having machine readable information recorded thereon. More specifically, this invention is directed to enhancing the security of packages in which flat recording media, computer programs magnetically recorded on a discette for example, are transmitted from a seller to a buyer. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved apparatus and methods of such character.
(2) Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is often necessary or desirable to transmit, via the mails, discettes or other flat recording media. A recording media containing package, while in transit, is out of the control of both the sender and the intended receiver and accessible to many persons. Considering the case of a "floppy disc" containing a computer program as an example, many programs are provided with built-in copy protection. It is thus essential that the receiver of a mailed package containing a discette which has a computer program recorded thereon be able to immediately ascertain, by visual inspection, whether the package has been opened. Any such opening might have been incident to an attempt to copy the recorded data and the data may have been rendered unusable during the attempt to copy.
In the prior art, attempts to enhance the security of recording media while in the mails have largely been limited to the use of a sealed media containing envelope which was inserted in a mailer. The inner envelope would typically have to be destroyed in order to gain access to the recording media. This, however, cannot be determined without first opening the outer envelope or mailer which may have been violated and then resealed.